Maria's Golden Beach — Restaurant in Municipality of Chersonissos

A large restaurant that caters to tourist crowds and has little in common with the gastronomic quality of Cretan cuisine.

The restaurant's good reviews prompted us to visit what it describes as the "oldest taverna in Stalida". To call this restaurant with its huge terrace a taverna is a bold move.

Since the menu posted here in June 2025, prices have increased by over 10%! Unfortunately, the quality of the food hasn't.

As in most tourist restaurants on the main street of holiday destinations, the guests are actively approached and lured into the restaurant. For us, this is actually always a reason to give such establishments a wide berth. Accordingly, we chose the side entrance and were greeted by several waiters with a very business-like handshake and assigned a table.

The service is friendly and determined and gets down to business quickly. The menu is in four languages and all the dishes are illustrated so that holidaymakers who don't speak the language don't have to experience any unexpected foreign dishes.

We opt for a colourful salad with slices of smoked pork and cheese (small golden salad €7.80) as a starter. Our main courses were the "Mixed Grill for 2" (€38.90) and the Greek speciality plate (Greek Plate €21.90).

The salad was good and had a fine flavour thanks to its dressing and the aromatic meat. The mixed grill for 2 people was large. Unfortunately, only the biftekis were really hot. The rest of the skewers were lukewarm to cold. The meat was very well done, tough and rather over-seasoned. The side rice was ok, the tzaziki was average and small, but could be reordered free of charge. Only the french fries were perfect - warm and crunchy.

The Greek speciality plate had a colourful mix of typical Greek dishes, all of which were of average quality. When we were asked how the meat had been, our response was that it had been hard and cold. The waiter just said, that the restaurant and the kitchen was very busy and that this could happen then....🤔

We were offered an ouzo and our son an ice cream. After almost two weeks in various restaurants and places on Crete, this was actually the first restaurant in which no dessert plus a digestive came from the kitchen as a greeting. This is probably due to its location in a place that is only visited by tourists.

Outside of Greece, the place would be described as an average restaurant. The good ratings on Google Maps are obviously due to the fact that the guests who come here have never experienced the really high-quality cuisine of Crete outside of this holiday resort. However, as we have got to know the Greek standard of restaurants in Rhodes and Crete over the past three weeks and travel to Greece since 2015 the quality here can unfortunately only be described as...

We decided to try this restaurant based on all the good reviews but unfortunately we did not have agood experience, despite the nice food, due to one rude waiter (we have now seen that on trip advisor he is mentioned quite a lot!). We were greeted by a nice young man, very friendly and helpful. There was another young boy who was running food and drinks, also very helpful. If they had been our waiters, we would have had a lovely time. Unfortunately, our main waiter was an older gentleman who had a different attitude.

We have a young baby and he was getting a little tired so we decided just to have some starters and drinks. The waiter didn't seem too impressed and rushed us to order. He wasn't polite to the two nice waiters helping him and I felt really sorry for the young boy who he kept speaking very abruptly to.

When the food arrived it was very nice. Our 9 month old loves trying new food and really enjoyed eating the bruscheta. We cleaned up after him and he was really well behaved. He made a couple of baby noises while there but was really good and the other customers were smiling at him. On the table there are paper place settings (ones they throw away after each use). Our son was playing with one and when he put it down and the waiter came to clear he snatched it off the table, crumpled it up and looked very annoyed. He was overly friendly to other, larger tables and it felt very much like he didn't want us there. I'm not sure if it was because we weren't spending lots of money or he doesnt like children but we certainly won't be going back - a shame as the food was good and the other two staff we had...

This isn’t a restaurant. It’s a disgrace with tables.

From the moment you step inside, you’re greeted not by warmth or hospitality, but by the suffocating atmosphere of fear and exploitation. The servers don’t walk — they drag themselves, beaten down into submission, forced to smile through exhaustion. It’s less “service” and more “public humiliation on display.”

Pavlos is the ringleader of this circus of cruelty. Picture a petty tyrant with the ego of a king and the heart of a cockroach. He thrives on belittling his staff, snapping at them as if they were disposable tools instead of human beings. If there’s a handbook on how to be the worst manager alive, Pavlos must have written it.

And then there’s Minas. If indifference were an art form, he’d be Picasso. He does nothing but lean back, smirk, and watch the chaos unfold — a spectator who enjoys every second of suffering as though it’s the evening’s entertainment. He is the human equivalent of a sneer.

The food? Forgettable at best, revolting at worst. Every dish tastes like it was prepared by someone who has long since lost the will to live. Flavorless, greasy, joyless — a perfect reflection of the environment it comes from.

To call this place a failure would be far too kind. It is a monument to everything that can go wrong in hospitality: cruelty, incompetence, and misery, all served on one rotten platter.

Do yourself a favor — skip this pit of despair. There are prison cafeterias with...